Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins is making news for remarks he made suggesting he would be okay with a gay teammate, because “nobody’s perfect” and he wants to be able to proselytize them:

“From a football standpoint, if the guy can help us win, come help us win,” Cousins, who is a devout Christian, is quoted by MLive as saying during an appearance at Michigan’s NorthPointe High School. “Now, there are a lot of teammates in my locker room right now who may not have a homosexual lifestyle, but they have sins, too. They’re not perfect. So I don’t say they can’t help us win. Nobody’s perfect.“

He then added: “To that degree, we’d welcome him into our locker room and say come help us win, and hopefully I can love him like Jesus and hopefully show him what it means to follow Jesus.”

His heart might partially be in the right place, but that’s so condescending and gross. I’m well aware that in fundamentalist Christian communities, they’re still struggling with this idea of “hating the sin, loving the sinner,” but it needs to be repeated again and again that that concept is simply false. As in, “hating the sin, loving the sinner” doesn’t exist when it comes to LGBT people. If Cousins has a gay teammate, the teammate’s sexuality is simply part of him. It’s not a “sin” and openly gay people are not “struggling” with it. Moreover, his desire to “show him what it means to follow Jesus” is misguided and rude. First of all, the gay teammate might be a Christian, as millions of LGBT-identified people are people of deep Christian faith. Regardless, he’s not a mark to be viewed as a possible opportunity for conversion.

Kirk Cousins and any other fundamentalist Christians who are still confused about this need to understand: you either accept us or you don’t. There is no middle ground. Being gay is not an “imperfection” and loving of someone of the same gender is not to be equated with whatever laundry list of sins Cousins imagines his straight players to be partaking in. It’s offensive and nasty, and if that’s what Fundamentalists believe “love” is, then nobody wants it, because the rest of us have a better, more highly evolved understanding of “love.”

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10 Comments

Chris MMarch 6, 2014 at 4:08 pm -

So arrogant and condescending. The assumption that a gay person cannot be a Christian and already “love Jesus”. Does he proselytize to his non-Christian teammates? Does he proselytize to the sinners who engage in adultery, drug use, gambling, cruelty to animals? Why does a gay person always get singled out for this special brand of “Christian love”?

We are gay. We are not broken. We are not confused. We are not evil or godless. We are simply who we are. Gay. Get over it!

Priya LynnMarch 6, 2014 at 5:41 pm -

Right, that automatic assumption by so many anti-gay christians that a gay person can’t be a christian is so tedious. How F’n stupid.

CJMarch 6, 2014 at 5:41 pm -

So true. The first thing that went through my mind reading this story this morning on HP was, “WHY do evangelicals all somehow assume that no one gay could POSSIBLY be a Christian??” Perhaps the next gay dude on his team may know the bible even better than him. Perhaps he will “feel led” to “show the love of Jesus” to his hedonistic straight teammates that are wallowing in sin themselves! What a doink. Geesh!

Paul DouglasMarch 7, 2014 at 4:04 am -

Well some of us are not evil, but are godless.

ClarkMarch 6, 2014 at 4:12 pm -

Regardless,
proselytizing a co-worker is harassment.

Richard RushMarch 6, 2014 at 6:38 pm -

I think he was trying to say,

“Everyone has sins, including me. Nobody’s perfect. But, as a Christian who follows Jesus, I come closer to perfection than other people, especially closer than gays who claim to be Christian. So, hopefully I can love them like Jesus and hopefully show them what it means to follow Jesus.”

Michael CMarch 6, 2014 at 11:49 pm -

I don’t really see this as an exclusively ‘Christian vs gay’ thing. It’s really more of a ‘ME vs anyone who doesn’t fully agree with ME 100% of the time’ thing. I’ve heard Protestants making this very same type of comment about Episcopalians.

It’s all about a belief system that tells followers that only they, themselves, possess true knowledge and everyone else is wrong and will perish for all of eternity. For some reason, this type of belief can cause an extreme sense of self importance and superiority. Everyone else must either conform to their beliefs or remain fundamentally inferior.

SebastianMarch 7, 2014 at 6:43 am -

This is precisely why Christians p**s me the hell off. Even when they’re trying their very best, the ignorance and condescension is incredible.

Gary (NJ)March 8, 2014 at 10:54 am -

These big mouths get all the press. A sizable portion of the Christian community does not think at all like he does (see the NALT project). Anyone who thinks Jesus wouldn’t embrace LGBT people (or any other outcast) either didn’t read the New Testament, or is too stupid to understand it.

Regan DuCasseMarch 9, 2014 at 1:38 am -

As I was getting out of the subway this afternoon at the Highland exit. The beautiful weather brought a crowd to the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Highland. The very intersection recently closed off for nearly a week because of the Oscars.
The loudest person there, competing with the buskers, costumed characters and panhandlers was a street preacher.
Making sure, with a very loud speaker, that everyone passing by was in need of Jesus or they were going to hell.
Deafening, and definitely at decibel levels that could damage anyone’s eardrums.
Especially those of children.

How very obnoxious of him. There are no less than six churches in every direction from that intersection and most people can find a church in they feel a ‘need’ for Jesus.
These people really ‘NEED’ to check in with each other and figure out whether or not they’re being intrusive,, obnoxious, too loud, too forceful, a physical liability to the eardrums or REDUNDANT in general.
I live across the street from a church. And have for the last twenty years.
There’s usually an EXCESS of churches in comparison to other houses of worship.

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